Art of dental surgery



L. A. KIANDER.

ART OF DENTAL SURGERY. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 7. I921.

1,408,066, Pate nted Feb.28, 1922.

[alumnae /Z lfmrzder 93, his Swag 13 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ART OF DENTAL SURGERY.

essee.

Application file-i January 7, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE A. Knurnnn, a citizen of the United States, and residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Dental Surgery, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to the art of dental surgery and particularly to what is known as artificial dentures, or bridge and plate work in said art, and the object of the invention is to provide means for making bridge and plate work more efit'ective, practical and efficient in use and to avoid the capping or crowning of permanent teeth in what is known popularly as bridge work at the present time, and in which by means of my in provement, bridge work as well as plate work, may be detachably connected with the permanent teeth instead of being rigidly secured thereto as is the general custom at the present time in the case of bridge work, and with these and other objects in view the invention consists in providing an artificial denture involving a bridge or plate, to or in which false teeth are permanently secured, with clasps whereby the said bridge or plate work is detachably secured in the mouth and may be detached at any time, one or more of said clasps being pivotally or rotatably connected with the bridge or plate, so as to prevent the latter from injuring in any way the permanent or natural teeth and so that the said bridge or plate with its permanent attachments may be easily connected with the permanent or natural teeth, one or more of which may set at an angle to its proper position, or be defective or irregular in form.

The invention is fully disclosed in the "following specification, of which the accompanying drawing forms a part, in which the parts of my invention are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views, and in which 2-.

Fig. 1 is a frontview of the upper jaw showing a bridge or plate provided with two false teeth'mo'unted inposition for use and connected with two permanent teeth;

Fig. 2 an inside view of the construction shown in Fig. 1; a

Fig. 3 a plan View of the bridge or plate shown in Fig. 1; V I

Fig. 4: a detail view showing part of t Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Feb. 28, 1922.

Serial No. 435,568.

method of constructing a denture according to my invention; I

Fig. 5 a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 6 a detail View of a clasp which I employ;

Fig. 7 a detail view of an attaching plate which I employ by which a clasp is secured to the bridge or plate work;

Fig. 8 a sectional View showing the complete means employed for pivotally connecting a clasp with the bridge or plate work; and,

Fig. 9 a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the method. of placing a. denture made according to my invention in the mouth.

in the accompanying drawing I have shown a bridge which resembles in its construction and form an ordinary plate, more than the well-known form of bridge, and for this reason the terms bridge and plate or bridge or plate and denture or dentures will be employed in this description as synonymous.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawing 1 have shown at a a part of the upper jaw and, in the practice of my invention 1 provide abridge or plate 6 which is of branched form in the construction shown, or pro ided with two laterally directed memhere 5 adapted to. closely fit the inner suriace'oi the upper jaw back of the teeth in the manner of an ordinary plate and to this bridge or plate is-secured two false teeth 0. in the method of securing the teeth 0 to the bridge or plate, I provide bands cl which enclose the inner parts oi the false teeth 0 adj scent to the bridge or plate and are countersunk in the bridge or plate, or form a part thereof, and the bridge or plate is also provided with; projecting side members or wings (Z which closely lit and enclose the outer sides of the false teeth a.

The method of securing false teeth 0 to the bridge or plate is the same or may be the same as the method usually employed,

the distinctive feature or" my invention being the method of connecting the bridgeor plate with thepermanent or natural teeth e between which the artificial denture is placed, and in this operation I provide clasps f by means of which the denture body is detachably connected with the permanent teeth 0, and one of these clasps is pivotally or rotatably connected, as hereinafter described, with the denture body and especially with aside or end portion thereof.

The clasps f are approximately circular in form and are open at their outer sides and are provided centrally with tongues g which fit in natural depressions in the bear ing surfaces of the permanent teeth, and in the construction shown only one of the clasps is rotatably connected with the artificial denture, but it must be understood that both of said clasps may be so connected, if desired, and it must also be further understood that my'invention is not limited to the provision of two clasps whereby the artificial denture is connected with adjacent permanent teeth as said denture may be connected at one side with a permanent tooth which is not adjacent thereto, and in a different way.

In rotatably connecting a clasp with the artificial denture proper I provide a plate 71., shown in Fig. 7, which is secured to one or both sides of the artficial denture or to the side members d thereof, and-this plate is provided with a pivot aperture 71. below which is a transverse shoulder 72?, the top surface of which is provided with oppositely inclined portions 71. which serve as stops for the rotary movement of a pivoted clasp, and the plate or plates h are secured to and form a part of the side portions of the artificial denture proper and passed through these plates and through the clasp or clasps and permanently secured in the latter is a pivot pin j provided at its inner end with a head j countersunk in the outer side portion of the artificial teeth 0, as clearly shown in Fig. 5 and this makes the pivotal connection of a clasp or clasps with the body portion of the denture also a permanent connection, the pivot pin being free to rotate in the plate ii. and in the corresponding side or side portions of the denture of which the plate 01 plates 71, form a part. i

The process of connecting the plate or plates h with the side parts of the artificial denture proper is the same as that usually.

followed in work of this class, andthe resultant product is finished in such manner that the plate or plates h appear'to be and are, in fact, a part of the body portion of the denture.

The denture may also be provided in one or both sides thereof with lips or tongues 12 which overlap the artificial teeth and fit in depressions formed therein, and the object of which is to reinforce the denture as a whole.

In the use of my improved artificial clenture the rotary clasp or clasps by reason of the independent movement thereof allow the natural teeth to function normally, or as in nature, and also provide for the bridge or plate portion of the artificial denture a free movement within certain limits independent of the clasp or clasps and in theprocess of mastication the tissues of the mouth are not" permanently compressed or borne upon,

but on the other hand receive what might be called a natural massage operation, which stimulates the circulation therethrough and facilitates and renders more practical the operation of my improved denture, which is impossible in cases where the said denture is rigidly or immovably secured to the natural teeth only.

Since the tissues of the mouth yield to the pressure of mastication and especially where artificial denture bodies are employed, the clasps must necessarily move with the denture body when said clasps are rigidly connected therewith, and much straining of the natural teeth is caused whereby diseases thereof may result. This trouble, however, is obviated by my improvement in which the clasp is movably mounted in connection with the denture body and has a vertical,- lateral and rotary movement on or inconnection with the denture body, and this also facilitates the connection of the clasp with a natural tooth in an abnormal position or with the natural teeth standing at different angles, or of irregular form as shown in Fig. 9, and the strain on a natural tooth which is occasioned'by forcing a clasp'onto said tooth when said clasp is rigidly connected with the denture body is obviated. It. is also a fact that the connection of the clasp with a natural tooth when the clasp is rigidly connected with a denture body frequently loosens the tooth in the operation of mastication and results in the destruction of the enamel of the tooth and the consequent decay thereof, andthis also permits the bridge. or plate; or denture body, to move vertically in the operation of mastication or chewing,

without moving the clasp on the tooth with which it is connected, which movement would continually. wear away the enamel on said tooth.

The tongneor tongues f on the clasp or cl-asps which fit in the bearing surfaces of" thenatural'teethvprevent the clas or'clas'ps from being forced down. towarc the gum margin of the teeth in the process of Inastication, and the movableclasp or clasps do away with the necessity of grindingthe natural teeth. In ordinary bridge-W01; it is customary whether the bridge work be stationary, movable or removable to grind the natural teeth so as to fit'the denture thereto, and this is also done in the op eration of crowning teeth, or inserting gold inlays, in order to solder or secure thereto some form of paralleled attachments, and this grinding of live teeth causes too much destruction and frequently the death of the teeth. The movable clasp requires no parallelism ofpermanent teeth but an artificial denture provided with such a clasp or'c'las'ps may be easily connected with misfor'med permanent teeth, or permanentteeth which 'pable 0 set at an angle one to another, this operation being rendered possible bythe loose consection of the clasp or clasps whereby they are adapted for easy connection with misformed or angularly arranged permanent teeth.

It must be understood that either the upper or the lower jaw may be provided, as herein set out, with an artificial denture made according to my invention, and it must also be understood that my invention is not limited to the exact details of construction herein shown and described, and changes therein and modifications thereof may be made, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificing its advantages.

It is also necessary, at this time, to call attention to the fact that the method of,

movably connecting the pin j with a denture, as herein shown and described, produces a limited universal connection or a joint which operates to an extent as a universal joint, this function resulting from the fact that the hole 71, in the plate it through which the pin j passes is larger than said pin and that the head j is rounded and movable in the socket or recess in which it fits in the side of the adjacent artificial tooth and this, as will be understood, gives to the clasp within certain limits a universal movement, as indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, or in other words in which the claso which is rotatably mounted is cal a rotary, oscillatory and circular movement on the bridge or plate work.

It is also necessary to call attention to the fact that Fig. 9 indicates the method of connecting a denture made according to my invention with irregularly formed, or irregularly placed natural teeth and in this view the movable clasp is shown at an angle to the artificial tooth and maybe slipped on over the natural tooth no matter what the position of the latter or its form may be.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an artificial denture device, a denture body and a connecting pin or part one end of which is loosely connected with the denture body and the other end of which is provided with a tooth clasp.

2. In an artificial denture device, a denture body and a connecting pin or part, one end of which is loosely and rotatably connected with the denture body and the other end of which is rovided with a tooth clasp.

3. In an arti cial denture device, a denture body and a connecting in or part, one end of which is loosely an rotatably connected with the denture body and the other end of which is provided with a tooth clasp, and means in connection with the denture body for limiting the rotation of said pin or part.

4. In an artificial denture device, a denture body provided with a side reinforcing plate and a connecting pin or part, one end of which is loosely and rotatably connected with the said plate and the other end of which is rovided with a tooth clasp.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of the subscribing witnesses this 5th day of January, 1921.

LAWRENCE A. KIANDER.

Witnesses: C. E. MU'LREANY,

H. E. THOMPSON. 

